


I Miss Him

by pimpernels



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 11:22:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5705830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pimpernels/pseuds/pimpernels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the chaos of celebrating the end of Starkiller Base dies down and most of the Resistance members have dragged themselves to bed, Chewbacca looks up from a conversation with the droids and notices that both of his girls have slipped away. He growls to himself: he's losing his touch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Miss Him

**Author's Note:**

> alternatively, this could be titled "I JUST WANT LEIA ORGANA TO BE HAPPY AND THIS ISN'T QUITE THAT BUT IT'S A STEP, OKAY"

When the chaos of celebrating the end of Starkiller Base dies down and most of the Resistance members have dragged themselves to bed, Chewbacca looks up from a conversation with the droids and notices that both of his girls have slipped away. He growls to himself: he's losing his touch.

He checks the med bay first, and some of the tension in him eases when he sees Rey talking softly to Poe, who is sitting by Finn's bed. He won't bother the new friends: he just wanted to be sure she was alright. 

Finding the General is a little bit harder. She's not in Central Communications, she's not in her office, and when he knocks on the door to her small room between the caf and comm, she doesn't answer. He rumbles a little at this. He knows she's devastated, had seen the way she swept the young scavenger into a hug and just stayed there for minutes on end. He wants to check on her, knows she alone will understand the pain he feels every time he thinks of Han on that bridge, that she will understand the dull ache in his chest that just won't fade away. 

He turns from her door and slips outside. The stars are bright overhead, and the Falcon sits quietly at the edge of the base. He approaches it slowly, cautiously, not ready to embrace what it would mean to be the person charged with the Falcon, not quite ready to think about piloting it without Han again. Having Rey around helped. Maybe she'd stay with them.

He finds Leia sleeping in the pilot's seat. She's curled up in the space like she used to do when she was young, the fierce and fighting Princess who didn't take no for an answer. Her face is streaked with tears. 

She looks so small.

Chewie nudges her gently, rumbles a question as quietly as he can.

She jerks slightly under his touch, and it takes her a few seconds to figure out where she is. There's not much light coming in from outside of the Falcon. Chewie doesn't know how long she's been here, but the sun has slipped past the horizon and there are only a few lights visible through the glass.

"I'm fine, Chewie," she tells him. She pats his arm, and he roars another question. "Yes, really," she says. 

He slinks into the co-pilot's seat and watches her carefully. 

They sit there for a few minutes, her hand still resting on his arm. He can see thoughts whirling through her head, sees the moment she remembers why she crept up here in the first place. Her head falls a little. She squeezes her eyes shut and takes a deep, steadying breath that reminds him of her brother. When she opens her eyes again, she doesn't let the tears fall.

"I _will_ be fine," she tells him. "I will be."

Chewie growls at this and pulls her into a hug. She buries her face in his fur. They stay there for a moment, breathing, grieving. 

"I miss him," she says, so softly that Chewie almost wonders if she spoke at all. He gives her shoulders a tight squeeze just in case. He knows she can feel the sadness coming off of him in waves, just like he can see it in the furrow of her brow and the set of her shoulders. They mirror each other, lonely and loose in the galaxy without their smirking scoundrel to keep them laughing. It reminds him of the months after the carbonite freeze: both of them wandering, listless and restless and a little lost. 

When she pulls away, he keeps one arm on her shoulders and roars out something that is less a request than an insistence that she let him walk her to her quarters. She is, after all, still the Princess he remembers: fierce, brilliant, generous, determined, with a softness she doesn't let many see. She leans into his side as they walk to the exit bay. This late at night, there are only a few people on duty; she can afford this small moment of softness with the only person in the Resistance who understands her loss. 

They walk slowly back to her quarters. As she unlocks the door, Leia sighs and draws herself out from under his arm. 

"You get some rest," she says. She nods at the door a few feet down from hers. "That room is always empty and has a bed your size."

He roars.

"Of course it's for you," she says. "Don't be ridiculous. You're family. You always have a home on any base of mine." 

He nods. She gives his hand one last squeeze and opens the door. Chewie sees her shoulders jerk slightly as she enters the room. He moans a question. 

"No, I'm fine," she says, motioning him to be quiet. She points past the door. 

Chewie peers into the room. Rey is sprawled in one of the chairs by Leia's control desk. It doesn't look like a very comfortable position, and he is certain the girl will feel a bit creaky when she wakes up, but she looks peaceful for the first time since they arrived at Maz's watering hole. 

He growls, and Leia nods. "I'll leave her be," she says, a hint of that soft smile playing on her face. Chewie nods. The door slides shut almost silently and he walks down the hall to the room Leia pointed out, leaving his girls in each other's hands for the time being.

___

Leia walks over to the control panel and flicks a few buttons, pulls a few switches. A holographic atlas flickers into the air above the desk. She sinks into her own chair and stares at the stars, focusing on the calmness that radiates off of the sleeping girl and the slow whirl of the galaxies until she drifts back to sleep herself.  

**Author's Note:**

> for those who are curious: this was written mostly because I read [this fic](archiveofourown.org/works/5699509) and couldn't stop crying, soooo... thanks to Mikayla for that. (Seriously though, go check it out; it's amazing. Just make sure you have a box of tissues.)


End file.
